By Here is quick update from the Laura Ling and Euna Lee situation:
After weeks of silence, the sister of one of the two American journalists imprisoned in North Korea finally got a phone call.
“It was only the first time I had heard her voice in weeks. … I was so relieved but I feel so helpless,” Lisa Ling, a CNN contributor, told affiliate KOVR in an interview Wednesday. “Because as an older sister, a best friend, a self-professed ‘doer,’ it’s just difficult to know I cannot do anything to bring her home.”
Ling said she spoke to her sister, Laura Ling, over the phone Tuesday night. Laura Ling and Euna Lee were sentenced in June to 12 years in prison on charges of illegally entering the country to conduct a smear campaign.
Lisa Ling is hoping the arrests will push the United States and the reclusive communist nation to engage in diplomatic talks.
“I know that our government has been working behind the scenes very hard trying to bring the girls back home,” she said. But she added, “Our countries don’t talk, and perhaps this could be a reason.”
She said her sister “was very specific about the message that she was communicating, and she said, ‘Look, we violated North Korean law and we need our government to help us. We are sorry about everything that has happened, but we need diplomacy.’ “ [CNN]
What is significant about this phone call is that Laura Ling admits to breaking North Korean law, however that doesn’t mean she didn’t make the statement under duress. We won’t know for sure until they come back or the camera man talks. However, the fact that she said diplomacy is needed makes me wonder if the North Koreans are not trying to send a signal that they are wanting to start negotiations sometime soon? Like anything with North Korea, who knows?
4:40 pm on July 9th, 2009 1
Proof that they are pawns in the statement: Look, we violated North Korean law and we need our government to help us. We are sorry about everything that has happened, but we need diplomacy
The sorry stupid ‘reporters’ put themselves in harms way and have now inserted themselves into international politics, almost assuredly forcing the U.S. to give up something for their release.
Let them rot.
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6:17 pm on July 9th, 2009 2
That phone call only means one thing:
Kim Jong il is jealous of all the press Michael Jackson is getting.
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9:34 pm on July 9th, 2009 3
The State Department is now officially on the amnesty bandwagon, so Hillary won’t be using the word “baseless” any more in reference to the charges against Laura and Euna.
“Why now?” you might ask. Michael Jackson? Has Kim read the Gotham Chopra article stating that King of Pop thought Kim JHong-il might be a fan because of his wardrobe of jackets? I doubt it.
Actually Marcus Ambrose’s comment may actually hold some truth after all when he says: “almost assuredly forcing the U.S. to give up something for their release.”
Here’s my two won: I think Laura Ling’s inflamed ulcer is reaching the point where she may need surgery soon. The North Koreans may be keenly aware that Laura’s impending medical emergency might necessitate expediting her early release, so they are trying to get Laura and Euna to say things that will prompt the US State Department to take immediate action and get some value out of Laura’s release before she has to be airlifted to a Seoul or Beijing hospital.
Nobel Prize Money Winner and Current TV Chairman Al Gore is still scheduled to speak in Australia on July 13. If he is going to go to North Korea first then the State Department will be very busy over the next 3 days.
I’m going to look like a genius if this all goes down according to my above hypothesis. Yet there is one complicating factor that also needs to be addressed. Aside from Laura there is another sick patient in North Korea who may soon require emergency medical treatment in Beijing. I’m keeping my eye on these two hourglasses and it’s hard to tell which one has more sand on top.
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9:54 pm on July 9th, 2009 4
“I think Laura Ling’s inflamed ulcer is reaching the point where she may need surgery soon. ”
Do you still prescribe bloodletting and leaches there, Dr. Spelunker?
An humanitarian shipment of Metronidazole, Tetracycline and Pepto-Bismol is all that is needed to insure she is kept until the American government makes the needed concessions for her release.
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9:57 pm on July 9th, 2009 5
I’m sure the US Government told Lisa Ling to play along and say the right things. This is just a game, the girls will be home once the US gives NK most of what they want. Although the US should play hardball they won’t. Why? Because the US already has what it wants, which is a presence in S. Korea. Anything else would be icing on the cake.
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12:14 am on July 10th, 2009 6
Was it a collect call?
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1:18 am on July 10th, 2009 7
Dr. Spelunker quotes from an Australian medical website:
A severe, untreated ulcer can sometimes burn through the wall of the stomach, allowing digestive juices and food to leech into the abdominal cavity. This medical emergency is known as a perforated ulcer. Treatment generally requires immediate surgery.
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Stomach_ulcer
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12:20 pm on July 11th, 2009 8
From LA Weekly:
I remember watching Current TV when they were running the Vanguard spots. I remember them SAYING in the adverts that they WERE going to be IN North Korea. I remember then thinking, “they don’t want to do that, they might get in serious trouble.” They pulled those spots but I bet someone has those late winter/early spring Vanguard adverts–they dis say that they were going into North Korea.
Comment by Puddyfudge from Indianapolis on Jul 11th, 2009, 01:14 am
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3:22 pm on July 12th, 2009 9
I will pray for Laura Ling’s return home as well as for her fellow journalist, Euna Lee.
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8:31 pm on July 12th, 2009 10
Bart,
If what you say is true, it adds a whole new layer of stupid to this whole deal.
Any chance one of these old spots can be found and a link posted here?
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9:02 pm on July 12th, 2009 11
Bart is not saying it, only reposting it from a commenter on LA Weekly.
If Current TV ever did plan on doing a documentary on North Korea then wouldn’t they use a different crew?
Do you believe for one second that Lisa Ling would let her little sister follow her National Geographic footsteps “inside North Korea”? There’s no logical way Laura Ling gets that assignment.
I still believe the original plan for the March 2009 assignment was to interview North Korean refugees in China. This was essentially a China story. The side excursion to North Korea’s border was not really necessary to the main story and may have been done on a whim after they had completed all of their interviews in Yanji.
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